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A judge has told the lawyer for Pike River Mine directors he may have lost his chance to question three witnesses who gave evidence to the Royal Commission into the Pike River Mine tragedy after the public hearings came to an end.

The witnesses, who worked for the mine, gave written statements to the commission and a request to reopen the hearings to cross-examine the trio was declined.

A two-day hearing seeking a review of the decision by the commission began yesterday morning in the High Court at Wellington.

Stuart Grieve, counsel for the applicants who include the company's former chairman John Dow and former chief executive Peter Whittall, told Justice Ronald Young the men who submitted the statements had vital experience in areas the commission was investigating.

Mr Grieve said the commission was set up to find the truth of what happened to cause the explosions at the West Coast mine in November 2010, in which 29 miners were killed.

Justice Young said he had the chance to file new evidence during the hearings but didn't.

Mr Grieve said while the applicants did not have new evidence, they should have been able to have the chance to question others who did have new evidence.

Whittall and Pike River Coal face a total of 21 charges, brought by the government's labour service related to failure of methane explosion management, strata management, ventilation management and mitigating the risk and impact of the explosion.

In July a Pike River Mine contractor Valley Longwall International (VLI) pleaded guilty at the Greymouth District Court to three health and safety charges.